Hi everyone!  Life in the forest has calmed down somewhat.  Hans and Heidi, a german couple, arrived in late November.  They now live in the house next door.  They have a bird banding project that has been ongoing for over 30 years.  Hans is investigating the long life span he has recorded in some birds -  some have been found to live over 20 years.  Here are some photos I thought you would enjoy.

 This is where all the guilty cows go - once caught tresspassing in the forest; we call it cow jail.  The owners have to pay a fine to get them out.

 Hans lets me release some of the birds.  I banded my first one the other day.  He has caught 43 species in a few weeks.  Some you can see here:

 A mis net in the forest.  It is hard to see, but Hans and Evans are standing with the net on their immediate right.

 They use bamboo poles to secure the nets.

 Red- chested owlet.

 Rhinocerous viper, a resident of the Forester's yard.  Watch your step!

 Barret is working with Isaac, our neighbor to till the land next to our choo (pit toilet).  We have planted kale which is now about knee high.

 Titus (left) and Evans (right) are brothers.  Evans has been hired by Hans to work on the bird banding project.  Titus was trained by Hans when he was only 5 years old to handle and band birds.  Titus now works at the National Museum in Nairobi.

 Variable Sunbird

White tailed ant thrush.

 Corey, wearing Su-Jen's shoes, and Spencer.  These are 2 of  the many children in our village.  They often come into our yard to play.  Corey loves to bounce on the full Solar Shower bags.  It is a very special day when he wears pants. 

 Squishing a giraffe in Hell's Gate National Park....

 This large bull giraffe crossed the road right in fromt of Barret and I as we were walking though the park.  We followed him for a while and also found him the next morning from a ridge top.

 The park calls these "caves", but I think we are spoiled in Indiana with large underground caves.  These were Obsidian "cliffs" - magma that once flowed over the landscape and cooled into a hard shiny black glass-like rock. Right where Barret is standing we found a hyena den with bones and porcupine quills littered around the entrance.

 This bustard was HUGE!

 Vista from campsite night 1

 We walked with tons of zebra, hartebeest, eland, gazelle, impala, and buffalo.

 Inside the gorge - you can see Central Tower in the center of the picture.  Down the way were hot springs coming right out of the sides of the rock walls.

 This is what we do every day....Barret enters up to 40 focal follows a day, I enter all of the data from the notebooks (ad lib grooming and aggressions).

 Mt/ Longonot National Park.  We hiked up to the crater rim and then all the way around it!  The hike around took about 3 hours.  The crater bottom is to my left and the outside world to my right.

 Grasshopper/locust? found in Mt. Longonot NP

 Overlooking Hells Gate NP. This morning we hiked up to a raptor hide the park had built for viewing all of the vultures and raptors which nest on the cliff sides. 

 Saph, Marina's long time friend, invited us over for dinner.  Left to right: Saph, Marina, Kristin, Su-Jen, and me. Barret and I often have Saph over for dinner as he is an excellent cook and keeps good conversation going!

 Here we all are in all of our full glory - field wear. Kristin with her recording device and microphone to record the male vocalizations, me with binoculars, Barret with GPS unit, and Su-Jen with fecal collection kit!  Together we could rule the forest.

 A blue-headed bee eater which frequents the tea plantation/forest edge in GN grp's territoy.

 When on vacation in Naivasha we stumbled into this village and met Peter, a german man living in the village.  He was a chef and cooked us the best food we have had since we came here.  We came back to him for 4 meals!

 At Saph's for dinner, left to right: Agnes, Nathan, Saph, and Barret.  Agnes was an intern for Su-Jen and Nathan was an undergrad doing his thesis research with Marina.

The field staff (plus) at Marina's goodbye party

Top left to right: Wilberforce Okeka, Barret, Charles (a Field Assistant), Derrick (FA), Marina, Ernest (FA)

Middle left to right: Patrick (Su-Jen's worker), and me

Bottom left to right: Kristin, Agnes, Millie (FA), Su-Jen, and Erick (FA)

Pictures!

Meet Parker.  Not the best picture, but one of the few I have.  She is hanging out in a banana tree in our backyard.

Muhindo and Barret in the yard of the palace of the King of Rwenzururu, in front of Muhindo's Toyota Corona in which  we toured W Uganda.

Our house in Kakamega!!!

This is a legendary rock that some men just inside the Park border showed us.  They were there cutting wood for timber.  According to Muhindo this rock has sacred meaning to the people around the park.  People come and give sacrifices at it, mostly of chickens.  Men have tried to take it out of the ground, and if they do succeed in taking it back to their homes, it always finds its own way back to the same spot. 

Here you can see Muhindo hard at work, billowing the goat skins to make the coals hot.  The expert iron smith is to his right, the apprentice to his left.

I took this as we climbed up to the Rwenzori Mountain National Park border.  The walk took us up through the surrounding villages.  The view just kept getting better and better.

We have 5 Kenyan staff.  Charles is 26 and in his first year of getting his college degree at Musinde Muliro University in Kakamega town (where I am now, about 45 min from the village).  He is very smiley and the hardest worker we have.  Derrick, Ernest, and Erick all live near the Forest village.  Millie lives farther past Shinyalu (the nearest town about 20 min by piki piki or motorbike).  They all have children from anywhere between 2 and 15 yrs old.  Erick's mom runs the canteen in the village.  You can get a hot kenyan lunch there for 30 Ksh (about 40 cents), or buy bread or soda.  Wilberforce was the previous Chairman of KEEP (Kakamega Environmental Education Program) and has a nice house on the road to the village where his wife Mary sells eggs, tomatoes, onions, and airtime.  The village is small and consists of the forester's house, forester's office, KEEP school house, KEEP tree nursery and butterfly pens, KEEP lodging bandas, a resthouse for tourists run by the Kenyan Wildlife Service, the canteen, medical dispensary, our 2 mzungu houses, and about 10 homes which are rented to the KWS staff.

Barret has been working on the bike to get it in working order.  There are small market stalls along the road between Shinyalu and the village we can bike to to get produce. My off days usually consist of a AM run, reading, house maintanence (like repairing the mesh on the windows), and a good hike!

We have a new set of researchers here now.  James, Bri, and Kaitlyn have left.  Kristen is still here taking over Jame's PhD project.  Nathan is an undergrad from Columbia looking at relation between rank of females and the height at which they feed in fruiting trees.  Su Jen is back for another summer working with males, both lone and resident males of study grps, to assess paternity success.  Agnes is a Kenyan college student helping SuJen as an intern. 

We are planning a large dinner for July 4th and hopefully a campfire if it is not raining.  The 'long rains' are over now, and rain is not guaranteed everyday, but it does usually rain by dinner or at night. 

I have moved on to learning a new group, TWN, not nearly as large as TWS (it has only 6 adult females). They often feed around our house.  Barret has been travelling down to G South land, a decent hike away learning GSC and GSB.

I will introduce you to one more monkey before I go, again in TWS.  Burn is 2 (maybe 3) years old.  I know her from her slit like nostrils, yellow face, hairy ears, and bushy tail. These monkeys have cheek pouches where they will store food to make a quick escape and eat later if necessary.  Burn seems to like to fill her cheek pouches as well as her entire mouth to the point of overflow.  The last few times I have seen her loping through the trees the first thing I notice is her bulging open mouth. 

Uganda, Karibu Kenya!

Such a whirlwind!

Day 1: 26 hrs of plane travel completed, we arrive in Kampala by

around 1AM.  Next morning we board a bus to the West and meet in Fort Portal with Muhindo, our trusty travel guide, my friend from the

Semliki Safari Lodge who agreed to help arrange this whole excursion.  Muhindo greets us in his newly purchased Toyota Corona.....oh yes.  On our way in the dark to Rwenzori BackPacker's Hostel in Kilembe near Kasese town.

Day 2: We wake to the foothills of the Rwenzori's looming over our

hostel.  We were given the option of a community walk for about $8, so we accepted. Little did we realize that this community lives IN the

foothills.  We spent a sleepy yet wonderful 4 or so hours hiking up up up steep slopes greeting villagers, kids throwing us passion fruits,

and goats.  My favorite quote from our guide has to be after rounding

a bend to find a large pig tied near a home say "That, is a pig".

Yes, very good, thank you for the info.  We crossed a bridge over the

"Dangerous River" (translated) and past all of the piping placed to

bring the village and Kasese town water.  The walk concluded in a

waterfall on the border of the Rwenzori Mountain National Park.  After the walk and lunch Muhindo took us to see his new plot of land he just purchased with a beautiful vista of the surrounding town.  He hopes to construct his permanent home there.  Next off to meet this wife and 3 of 4 children in his current home.  We relaxed in his sitting room for some time and then were fed a feast of kalo(millet flour dough) goat stew, carrots, green beans, eggplant, and g-nuts and coffee.  He gave Barret and myself gifts: a small wooden carved gorilla, a small decorative woven basket, and a shoe horn!

Day 3: Muhindo tried to arrange for us to meet the King of Rwenzururu kingdom, as he is related (via his mom), but he was traveling to Kampala for personal business.  We were able to meet with his right hand man, the Prime Minister and ask some questions about the Parliament’s role in conservation of the region.  The king, parliament, and the kingdom want and have wanted to break awat from Ug to create a separate state for some time now.  President Museveni won’t allow it because alot of Ug’s resources are found in the kingdom in the W of Ug.  They still coexist peacefully with the government but do not have any real legislative power, although they do advice and help the people and community groups in other ways. We sat in the Parliament and saw the palace and the ceremonial palace where the king dresses before every parliament session (2x a year). 

I met with Edson for lunch briefly in Kasese town and then we were off to our next hostel where we relaxed for the evening, playing the local card game Matatu (similar to UNO) with Hillary (a boy).

Day 4: We drove closer to the Rwenzori mountains National Park and went for our own community walk.  Up, up, up again into the community.  After some hours we reached the edge of the village and crossed into the park.  We had an awesome view of the mountains, waterfalls, and rivers below us.    We returned to a community run hostel for lunch and then were greeted by Muhindo’s friend who has an ironsmithing workshop nearby.  We were invited to see the place.  It consisted of an open grass thatch-covered sitting area with a small fire fueled by pumping of goatskin pouches.  One man in training was heating and pounding rebar into a spear.  He gave us a small knife as a present.  The tradition has been in his family for 4 generations now.  On the way back to our hostel we stopped at a community camp and were given a Bakonzo traditional dance presentation.  They danced multiple dances, some discussing the encounters between humans and their enemies: snakes.  One dance was a dance performed after male circumcision rites as a celebration and also as an honor for any boy who died b/c of the rite.  After the boys are circumcised they are allowed to play with certain sticks, tapping them in a certain way at the party.  If a boy dies the women and anyone who cares to join will dance with the sticks in a similar fashion, to honor a boy who was never able to and honor him as a man.  Muhindo joined in on that dance......he loved it. 

Day5-9: On to Semliki! We met Will, the researcher now there managing the camp.  He is from the UK and was extrememy welcoming.  The chimps happen to be eating on Saba fruits which grow abundantly around camp so for 3 days we hike around the trails near camp viewing chimps!  I stayed in camp one day to relax with Moses and Charles(a ranger) came into camp to visit.

Day 10: Muhindo drives us to Semuliki National Park where we meet with Justice O and Patrick, my 2 ranger friends.  He gave us a tour of the 2 hot springs and the small patch of forest around them.  Back at our bandas we meet to guys from Israel.  They were camping in a tent until a huge rain storm came and their tent spot became a seasonal river....  i spent time with Justice while he cooked us beef g-nut stew with Bundu (cassava flour dough) and rice.  MMMMmmmm.  He entertained us with his riddles and laughter all night. 

Day 11:  We woke at 4:15 to catch a bus that passes on the main road by 5.  Justice woke with us, and as we were groggy and sleepy he again entertained us with his almost incoherent tales of a hare and a hyena.  Oh man.... We were in Kampala by 2!

Day 12:  We take an express bus that feeds us a hot breakfast and has cushioned seats that recline to the KY/UG border.  Customs consists of showing our passport and paying for a visa.  We take 2 crammed matatus to Kakamega town.  By the time we get there it was pouring and I felt ready to just get to the house!  We made it by 3pm and greeted all of the researchers here:  James is doing his PhD project on Male Blue Monkey calls.  His assistant, Kristen, and the project’s assistant, Brianna, all share the house next door.  Kaitlyn is the Project Manager here and we share a house with her. 

Kakamega!

Our house has 3 rooms, a kitchen/chill area, a wash room, and a bedroom.  The choo (bathroom) is a little house out back.  we have water tanks which collect rain water from the roof with piping that allows us to have running water in the kitchen and the washroom.  We have 2 kitties!!!  Silver is well, silver, and not as affectionate as her son, Klaus, who is tiny and striped gray/black.  They sleep outside but often come inside during the day and afternoon as we keep the door open when we are home. 

We have been eating communal meals, rotating who cooks and cleans.  Dinner is always something to look forward to as some people like to go all-out on planning good meals.  Dinner is one of the few times I get to see my neighbors.  We all have different off days and the vast majority of our time is spent in the forest learning monkeys.  3 days of work, 1 off.  We wake up, look for our assigned group of the day, and take data.  Data mostly consists of focal studies(follow one animal for 30 min and record every minute it’s behavior from a coded index, taking ad-lib data in  between the minute beeps on aggression and grooming).  Barret and I have been focusing on different groups.  I am learning T West South, Barret is learining G North.  The monkeys are funny to watch and I am enjoying learning them.  One of my favorites thus far is Gaunt.  She is an old geezer – born in 1987.  She has a face that looks like a dragon to me.  She has apparently given up on life.  James who will do playbacks of calls once played an alarm call given for an eagle.  The whole group chirped, looked up, and ran for cover. Gaunt laid down and put her arms open wide on the ground.  She has a stiff/broken middle finger.  She looks like she is flipping everyone off as she eats.  The monkey groups have their own territories and roam through them looking for fruits and leaves.  One group TWN has recently been in our front yard.  The GSouth groups live about a 40 minute hike away.

After the day with the monkeys we come home and enter data from our notes and the 5 field assistants.  We eat at 7 and usually have more data to enter after dinner.

My birthday was great.  I was greeted in the morning with the sighting of a Verraux’s Eagle Owl.  The monkeys were behaving wonderfully in low bushes and on the ground in a place we call the soccer pitch.  I cooked soup for dinner for everyone and Bri made me a cake for dessert!  I am off today and went for a run up A trail.  The trail went through the forest for a while, then through some guava plantations, then a pine forest area which feels kind of like a N American forest, and then into an open area with cows grazing.  If I were to continue on A trail it would lead to an area of the forest that has been less disturbed than the area around here.